A Day at the Beach
by a.lakewood
Summary: It was the best day ever. Sam returns to the same beach over a decade and a half later only to learn that things aren’t what they seem. And the scene of his best day also becomes the place of his worst.


**Title**: A Day at the Beach  
**Author**: alakewood  
**Warnings**: Some cussing and name-calling. AU-ish, not-so-distant future-fic. Major character deaths [I didn't mean to, honest!] Oh, and a slight spoiler for _Criss Angel is a Douche Bag_ and general ones for Season 4.  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Word** **Count**: 2900+  
**Summary**: It was the best day ever. Sam returns to the same beach over a decade and a half later only to learn that things aren't what they seem. And the scene of his best day also becomes the place of his worst.  
**Disclaimer**: As always, I own nothing.

**oxoxo**

"I was thirteen the first time one of Dad's hunts brought us to California. This town, actually," Sam said, ducking his head from the glare of the sun off the water and idly picking up a handful of warm sand, watching it trickle through his fingers like it would the narrow part of an hourglass. "Anyway, something went wrong with the hunt...she died – the woman Dad was trying to save. I guess she kinda looked like Mom, and that's why Dad took it so hard. He hated it when he couldn't save people, but when they reminded him of someone he'd already lost, especially Mom...He'd already started on his first beer as he left the gas station. Kept drinking on through the morning. Full-on drunk by the time we woke up, shouting theories and scribbling in his journal." Sam shook his head. "He didn't even notice when Dean took the keys and we snuck out of the motel room."

**oxo**

"Jesus Christ, Sam. Hurry your ass up!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Sam climbed in the driver's seat, put the car in neutral and steered as Dean pushed the car towards the street. It was only a little past seven, but there were already a few people out walking and running that eyed them warily.

Half a block away, Sam pulled up along the curb and stopped, Dean running up to the driver's side, telling Sam, "Shove over," as he opened the door and hopped in, starting the Impala with a loud roar, then speeding down the road.

"So...where are we going? Mexico? 'Cause when Dad realizes that you stole the car, you're gonna want to be in Mexico."

Dean shot his brother a glare before tossing him John's wallet. "I don't think there's enough cash in there to even cover the gas to make it half-way to the border."

"_And_ you stole his wallet? Dean, Dad's gonna be _pissed._"

"Hey! Watch your language."

"You cuss all the time."

"You're not me. Besides, I'm older."

Sam made an indignant sound. "Too bad you don't act like it."

"Whatever." Dean pounded his fist on the top of Sam's thigh. "Charlie horse."

"You're a jerk, Dean," Sam said through gritted teeth, gingerly rubbing at his leg, knowing there'd probably be a nice bruise there by sundown.

"Bitch," Dean beamed.

"Really, though," Sam said a moment later. "Where are we going?"

"I'm trying to find a beach. That's all you ever hear about California – beaches. Well, and hot blondes. Speaking of." Dean nearly gave himself whiplash as he turned his head to watch one said 'hot blonde' jog past in a bikini top and short shorts, a bright-colored beach towel slung over her arm. "I think the beach is that way."

In the parking lot, they pulled off their shirts and shoes, tossing them back inside the car, and Dean pulled the key for the car off the key ring and threaded it onto the leather cord with the pendant that hung around his neck. "I'll race ya!" Sam yelled, making a beeline across the hot pavement towards the sand and the water beyond.

Dean slammed his door shut and gave chase. A year ago, he'd easily have beaten his younger brother in a race, whether or not Sam had had a head start. But Sam had being growing nonstop since his last birthday, his growth spurt happening a lot earlier than Dean could remember having his. Now, Sam was only a few inches shorter than his older brother and already as tall as their father. So the fact that Sam was already treading water ten yards from the shore wasn't that much of a surprise to Dean.

The whole morning on into early afternoon was spent swimming and running along the breach, joining in impromptu games of soccer and volleyball and it seemed as though their whole life outside of that beach was a distant memory. All the evil, all the monsters (human or not), did not exist in this sun-drenched place of shimmering water and pale sand. No fear, no pain, no blood, no expectations. Only the California beach, a cloudless summer day, and two brothers.

Sam climbed out of the ocean first, shaking his head, hair flinging water like he was a wet dog, before collapsing onto the sand. Dean wasn't far behind him.

"Dude," Dean said, looming over Sam, his shadow blocking the sunlight from Sam's eyes, "I'm _starving_."

"Me, too."

"Let me go grab Dad's wallet then we can go over to the boardwalk."

The afternoon was spent much like the morning, just soaking up the sun and having the kind of fun they'd never been able to have on the road. The crowd on the beach was thinning even though the sun hadn't set yet.

Dean's attention was caught by a group of girls about his age and he followed them down the beach. "Hi, ladies," he said, using that stupid grin of his that got him everything from getting out of detention to an extra spoonful of macaroni and cheese from the lunch lady to phone numbers from girls in every town they'd ever stopped in. Sam just rolled his eyes.

The girls all giggled, some breaking off in pairs and running ahead towards another, larger group of teens. It was a brunette, probably a year younger than Dean, that turned to him and said, "Hi," back.

"Hey." Dean sidled up beside her. "Me and my brother are kinda new in town. What's there to do for fun around here?"

She glanced at Sam and, noting the look on his face, knew that Dean was playing the same game all teenage boys played. "We're having a bonfire down by the rocks. Everybody's welcome." She looked Dean up and down, gave him a smile, then ran off to join her friends.

"Dean, we should get home before Dad really does realize we're gone. If he hasn't already, I mean," Sam said, stopping and taking a couple steps backwards.

"Come on, Sammy. If we're gonna be in trouble, we might as well have as much fun as we can now, right?" Dean gave his brother a pleading look. Pretty, half-naked girls were Dean's personal crack. "_Come on_."

Sam tipped his head back, groaning. "Fine. But I'm telling Dad it was all your idea."

It only took Dean twenty seconds to track down the brunette. "Hi again," he said, offering his hand. "I'm Dean."

"Jenny."

Knowing that he was no longer holding his brother's interest, Sam wandered down the beach towards the rocks where a few other kids were gathering. "Fifty bucks says you're too chicken-shit to do it," a boy shouted.

"You don't have fifty bucks to bet, dickwad," another boy called back.

When Sam got closer, he could see that the beach rose into a pile of rocks as the coast curved inward to the south. At the top of the cliff, there was a huge boulder, gargantuan and completely out of place compared to the rest of the stone. Atop the boulder was a silhouette – the second boy, Sam assumed. "What's going on?" Sam asked a girl standing at the edge of the group that had formed at the base of mound.

"Johnny thinks he's like a badass or something. He's more of a _dumbass_ if you ask me. So Tony's trying to get him to jump."

"Oh."

She glanced at Sam, doing a double-take. "You haven't been down here before, have you?"

Sam shook his head. "Nope."

"So you've got no idea who I'm talking about."

"Nope."

"You want to-"

"Hey, Sammy! Jenny told me that some guy's s'posed to jump off this big rock into the ocean," Dean said, interrupting Sam's conversation.

"I think they're taking bets," the girl Sam had been talking to offered.

"Awesome. What's it up to?"

"Dean, don't even think about it," Sam said, trying to grab Dean's arm as he headed towards the guys in the front of the crowd.

Dean just flashed him that mega-watt grin. "Too late!"

"Dean!"

"How deep is the water at the bottom?" Dean asked one of the boys. "Are there rocks?"

"Why? You think you can do it?"

"Well?"

The boy shook his head. "No rocks. Water's maybe ten or fifteen feet deep."

Dean looked up at the boulder, cocking his head to the side. Sam stood beside him, same stance. "It's not all that different than that water hole in Oklahoma last summer," he said to Sam. "I've totally got this."

Sam sighed exasperatedly knowing that he was fighting a losing battle. "Just jump as far away from the cliff wall as you can."

"Well no duh." Dean turned his attention back to the boy. "I heard there was a bit of money involved."

"Yeah – for Johnny."

"Just Johnny."

He eyed Dean. "Twenty-five if you do."

"That doesn't sound fair."

"Sounds more than fair to me."

Jenny pushed herself between Dean and who Sam guessed was Tony. "I'll put in ten."

"Hey! What's going on down there?" Johnny called.

"You've got competition," Dean called back. "Anybody else want to get in on this pot? Money goes to whoever jumps first. And _survives_." Dean said the last part loud enough for Johnny to hear and grinned at Jenny.

"Fine," Tony said. "Who else?" A bunch of kids started handing Tony crumpled bills, then he added them up. "Seventy-six dollars!"

"Dean, your life is worth more than seventy-six dollars," Sam whispered harshly. He knew that the depth of the water, plus the height of the cliff, combined with Dean's weight only equaled disaster.

"Sam, this'll be a piece of cake," he whispered back.

"I'm not gonna let you do this."

"Please. You can't stop me."

"Watch me," Sam said, feeling a surge of adrenaline and a whole lot of fear as he started for the rocks. He was climbing before Dean was aware Sam had even left his side.

"Sammy! What the hell?!"

Sam reached the top, and Johnny's reaction was similar. "What the hell, man? You're just a kid."

"Got more balls than you, though," Sam said, then took the plunge off the boulder. He didn't even have time to say a prayer before he was hitting the water, his dive shallow just as Dean had taught him.

Dean was at the front of a group of boys wading out into the water, trying to see who'd been the one to jump. "Don't you ever do anything that stupid again," Dean said, slinging an arm over his brother's shoulders.

"Can't let you have all the fun," Sam said, smiling even though he felt like his knees would give out at any moment.

"That kid is _crazy_," Johnny said, passing them and heading towards the bonfire. "Crazy."

Tony handed over the wad of money. "That was...rad. I mean, a kid one-upping Johnny like that? Totally."

Sam and Dean shared a look and laughed. Dean turned to Jenny. "Hate to cut the night short, but I should probably get my brother home. 'Sides, our dad is probably wondering where we are."

Jenny glanced at Sam out of the corner of her eye before leaning up to kiss Dean chastely on the lips. "It was nice meeting you. You should come back tomorrow night. We could...I don't know, have some more fun?" she offered, eyebrows raised.

"More fun," Dean repeated. "I'm, uh, definitely up for more. Fun. Yeah. We'll see."

Sam rolled his eyes and groaned, again, and started for the car.

Dean caught up with him in the parking lot, pulling his necklace over his head to take the key off the leather cord. Silently he unlocked his door, then reached over and unlocked Sam's. "Dude. That was awesome."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. _Totally_." They both laughed.

"It was pretty scary."

"I bet. I was scared just watching you."

Sam laughed, alone this time. "Yeah. Right. You're not afraid of anything."

Dean's hand stilled on the key in the ignition and he just stared out the windshield for a moment. "Scared of plenty of things, Sammy."

Sam snorted, not grasping the seriousness their light conversation had just taken. "Like what?"

"The things me and Dad hunt. Losing Dad." He sighed and finally turned to look at Sam, muscle in his jaw twitching. "Losing you."

"Dean."

"Seriously, Sam. I don't know what I'd do."

"You're not gonna lose me," Sam said, voice certain.

"You don't know, Sam. You don't."

"I'm not going anywhere."

Dean took a deep breath, shook his head – maybe attempting to shake off the feeling creeping into him. "Yeah," he said, smiling at Sam, an awkward smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Me either."

Dean didn't bother with stealth when returning the Impala to its space outside their room's door. Just turned the headlights off before he coasted into the parking lot so they wouldn't alert John to their absence or arrival.

They were, however, quiet when sneaking back in, but John was passed out on one of the beds. "I'll let you take the shower first," Dean told Sam, carefully sliding John's wallet back into the pocket of the jeans that were atop the heap of clothes on the floor.

"All right." Sam started towards the bathroom, but stopped. "Hey, Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"This was the best day. Ever."

Dean grinned, a real grin this time. "For me, too."

**oxo**

"It's still one of the best days." Sam wiped at his eyes, tipping his head back. "Everything we've ever been through points back to that night. If I'd've just paid attention to what he was really saying...It's like he _knew_. Like he'd always _known_ how this was going to end."

"He's your brother, Sam. There wasn't one thing he wouldn't have done for you."

"I know. I just don't think he believed me when I told him I'd do the same."

They were both silent for a long moment.

"I can't believe that he's really gone this time. That he's not coming back."

Ruby reached out to him, wrapping her hand around his, fingers twining together in the sand. "He knew what you would've lost. You jumped off that rock to save him, right?" She gestured towards a large boulder perched precariously at the top of a cliff where the coast turned inwards to the south. "This was him jumping off that rock for you. He knew what you would've lost," she repeated.

Sam's breath caught in his throat. "Ruby."

"You told me once that you didn't want to be hunting when you were old. You told Dean the same thing. This was the last thing he could do for you, Sam. I couldn't stop him."

He felt like he was hyperventilating. "Did you even _try?_" He pulled his hand from hers.

"You'll get that chance at normal you always wanted. You'll never have to hunt again. You'll grow old. You'll have a family."

He just stared at her in disbelief. "You mean _we_, don't you?" He felt sick. "Ruby."

"Sam. I know how you feel about me. I feel the same way about you."

He scrambled to his feet, opened his mouth to speak only to close it again when he couldn't find the words.

Ruby stood, too. "It's gonna be okay, Sam." She reached for him.

He shook his head again. "This isn't what I wanted. _You're_ not what I wanted. Yes, I want to get old and never have to hunt again, but I wanted that with _my brother_. This life doesn't mean anything if he's not here."

Her eyes flicked black. "You don't mean that."

"I do. You could _never_ replace him. Ever."

"_Sam_." Her voice dropped, sounded like a threat.

Sam held his hand up, fingers splayed, palm towards her. "You handed him over to her, and it didn't even _bother_ you. Now you can know what it feels like."

"Sam." Voice suddenly soft, eyes back to their normal deep brown.

"No. It's over. You're done. You're _nothing._"

"Don't."

He sighed, shook his head one more time. "Beg all you want. You know you can't stop me."

The light that emanated from his hand was brighter than the sun, building, burning, then was gone. Ruby's body dropped to the sand with a soft thud.

This time, when Sam scaled the pile of rocks, there wasn't a crowd to watch in awe. This time, when he dove into the water, he wasn't praying to live.

This time, he climbed out of the water alone.


End file.
